1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a membranophone, such as, a snare drum, a tom-tom drum or bass drum of drum sets. The membranophone includes a principal skin or head skin and a secondary skin as well as a skin tightening device and/or tuning device. The skin tightening and/or tuning device includes rod-shaped tightening elements at least for the head skin, wherein the tightening elements are arranged uniformly distributed over the outer circumference of the resonator shell of the membranophone, and wherein the tightening elements are supported by support members fastened to the resonator shell, on the one hand, and the tightening elements adjustably act through threaded members on the tightening hoop for the skin or skins, on the other hand. Damping members are arranged between the support members and the resonator shell or kettle. The skin or skins are held by winding hoops and can be tightened and, thus, tuned by means of the winding hoops and the tightening hoops relative to the opening rim of the resonator shell. The membranophone further includes at least one holding stirrup which is connected to the resonator shell in a dampened manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,980 discloses a membranophone of the above-described type in the form of a tom-tom drum. However, in this known drum, only the head skin is connected through tightening screws to the resonator shell. The secondary skin is not connected to the resonator shell. The support stirrup adapted to the cylindrical contour of the tom-tom drum surrounds the resonator shell over at least 180.degree. degrees. The support stirrup is connected through elastic intermediate members by means of four tightening screws. The elastic intermediate members are arranged below lug-like projections of the tightening screw connectors which essentially form a tightening hoop. The projections rest under the influence of the weight of the resonator shell on flanges of the stirrup which are bent out at a right angle. Consequently, a disadvantageous influence on the tension of the head skin and/or the projections serving as tightening hoop cannot be avoided. The tom-tom drum can be fastened, for example, to a bass drum by means of a clamping device which is part of a support plate which, in turn, projects downwardly in a cantilevering manner from the support stirrup and parallel to the resonator shell.
German Utility Model 88 10 545.8 discloses a membranophone with threaded members acting on tightening hoops for the skins for adjusting the head skin as well as the secondary skin, wherein the skins are held by winding hoops and wherein the skins can be tightened relative to the opening rim of the resonator shell by means of the winding hoop and by means of the tightening hoops. This known membranophone does not include a support stirrup. The support members required for tightening the skins engage with a neck in a bore of the resonator shell and are fixed and tightened in the bore by means of a head screw, wherein resilient damping members are arranged between the support members and the bores. The head screw extends through the damping member, for example, in the form of a flat disk of rubber, and interacts with an internal thread which is worked coaxially into the neck and into the head piece of each support member. The head screws make it possible to fasten the support members to the resonator shell in a secure but to some extent elastically resilient manner.